Articles

AudioStanford, CA— As every gardner knows, nitrogen is crucial for a plant’s growth. But nitrogen absorption is inefficient. This means that on the scale of food crops, adding significant levels of nitrogen to the soil through fertilizer presents a number of problems, particularly river and groundwater pollution. As a result, finding a way to improve nitrogen uptake in agricultural products could improve yields and decrease risks to...

Stanford, CA—Carnegie’s Li-Quing Chen, recipient of a Tansley Medal for Excellence in Plant Science, announced late last year, is honored with an editorial and minireview in New Phytologist this month.
The journal’s Tansley medal is awarded each year in recognition of “outstanding contribution to research in plant science by an individual in the early stages of their career.” Each recipient authors a minireview about the subject area of their...

Each year, the journal The Scientist ranks academic research institutions across the US. This year, Plant Biology is among the top 5. We will make every effort to keep this place among the most attractive workplaces in academia, which means to continue to thrive for a supporting a creative and highly productive work environment.
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/36737/title/Best-Places-to-Work-Academia-2013/

AudioStanford, CA—Inside every plant cell, a cytoskeleton provides an interior scaffolding to direct construction of the cell’s walls, and thus the growth of the organism as a whole. Environmental and hormonal signals that modulate cell growth cause reorganization of this scaffolding. New research led by Carnegie’s David Ehrhardt provides surprising evidence as to how this reorganization process works, with important evidence as to how the...

On Nov 2nd, we held a symposium honoring Dr. Winslow Briggs, the staff member and former Director of the department of Biology here on our campus in Stanford. The symposium was attended by distinguished international speakers, who gave keynote presentations. The presentations focused on light perception and signaling in plants, honoring the fundamental discoveries made by Dr. Briggs, who continues to carry out important scientific research...

The Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Plant Biology is hosting it's first retreat in 9 years at the Tresidder Oak Room on Stanford campus November 1st from 9AM-8PM. The event will include a poster session, vision talks from all plant faculty and keynote addresses from Alexander Jones of the Frommer lab and Winslow Briggs, Emeritus director of the department.

The recently published article “Motility Enhancement through Surface Modification Is Sufficient for Cyanobacterial Community Organization during Phototaxis.” by Ursell et al. was featured on the cover of the September issue of PLoS Comput Biol. The research represents an ongoing collaboration between the groups of Devaki Bhaya, at the Carnegie Institution and Dr. K.C. Huang, Department of Bioengineering, Stanford. Dr. Bhaya has extensively...

Washington, D.C.— Postdoctoral fellow, Rubén Rellán-Álvarez at the Department of Plant Biology has been awarded the prestigious Marschner Young Scientist Award by the International Plant Nutrition Colloquium. The award was established for “outstanding Ph.D. students and early-career researchers with the potential to become future research leaders.”
Rellán -Álvarez received his bachelors, masters and Ph.D. from the Universidad Autonoma de...

Stanford, CA— Coral reefs are tremendously important for ocean biodiversity, as well as for the economic and aesthetic value they provide to their surrounding communities. Unfortunately they have been in great decline in recent years, much of it due to the effects of global climate change. One such effect, called bleaching, occurs when the symbiotic algae that are essential for providing nutrients to the coral either lose their identifying...

Washington, D.C. --The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR), a database of genetic and molecular biology data for the laboratory plant Arabidopsis thaliana, is one of the most widely used plant databases in the world. Some 60,000 scientists visit the site and view over 1,000,000 pages per month, and usage continues to climb. Funding from the National Science Foundation is ending soon and the program will begin transitioning to a subscription-...